Facebook shrinks to Zero

Facebook is launching a cut-down version for mobile users, eliminating pictures and other bandwidth-hungry content.

Facebook Zero will be even more minimalist than Facebook Lite (What's with the names? Does the company think it's producing soft drinks?).

While Facebook Lite, lauhched last fall, eliminates applications and minimises graphics, Zero does away with images altogether, meaning users will have to be a little more imaginative when it comes to humiliating their friends.

The text-only service will launch worldwide in the next few weeks, once the company's sorted things out with network providers. They're likely to be enthusiastic, though, at the thought of all those lovely new customers.

Facebook Zero is likely to prove particularly popular in countries with slower network connections and more restrictions on pictures of naked, drunken girls.

The company recently announced that a quarter of its 400 million users access the service from a mobile.